Tuesday, March 15, 2011

My Favorite Video Game Music, #34: White Storm

#34: White Storm
Ogre Battle



Ogre Battle was one of the neatest video games I ever played. I wouldn't call it legendary, and it doesn't quite make my top ten favorite video games ever list, but nonetheless it was awesome, and it was uniquely awesome. It featured a rich story complete with backstory and an ominous future even after you save the world, and events and characters would change substantially depending on your actions as Opinion Leader of the Zenobian Rebellion. But it's not an RPG, not like the various Square classics; it's a real-time strategy game with RPG blended in. Starcraft meets Dragon Warrior, if you will. For 1995, this was all very, very cool stuff. Come to think of it, it's still cool in 2011. Not many names had as much thought put into their story and design as this one. And it's very deep--one of the deepest stories ever, filled to the gills with deceit, betrayal, aggression, compassion, sympathy, and (depending how you play it) corruption or justice.

And the soundtrack fit the various moods of the game very well. This first of two Ogre Battle entries into this Top 50 is the overworld music for winter-themed lands; your enemy is located in the Highlands, and the further you penetrate into Zeteginean territory the more snow you see, and the more you hear this music. The music has a knack for making whatever you're doing sound urgent and inevitable. Perfect for a struggle for the soul of the continent in the snow-smothered Highlands.

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